New York Times – Bias and Credibility

History

The New York Times (sometimes abbreviated to NYT) is an American daily newspaper, founded and continuously published in New York City since September 18, 1851, by The New York Times Company.

The New York Times was initially founded by U.S. journalist and politician Henry Jarvis Raymond and former banker George Jones. Henry Jarvis Raymond is the founding editor, and according to an NYT article, Raymond stated the political position of New York Times as “We shall be Conservative, in all cases where we think Conservatism essential to the public good; — and we shall be Radical in everything which may seem to us to require radical treatment and radical reform.” 

Raymond and Jones & Company initially published the NYT. Raymond was also prominent in forming the Republican Party during the 1850s. George Jones, a banker, and politician, solicited funds to launch the newspaper. Another early investor to the paper is Wells Fargo & Company, the United States Express Company and director of the American Express Co.,  Edwin B. Morgan.  Adolph Ochs purchased the New York Times in 1896. Ochs had one daughter Iphigene Bertha Ochs, and she married Arthur Hays Sulzberger, who became publisher of the NYT after Ochs died. Joseph Kahn is the current Executive Editor.

On 7/14/2020, Opinion columnist Bari Weiss resigned from the New York Times, stating, “Twitter is not on the New York Times’ masthead. But Twitter has become its ultimate editor.”

Read our profile on the United States government and media.

Funded by / Ownership

The Ochs-Sulzberger family controls the New York Times through Class B shares. Since 1967, the company has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol NYT. Class B shares are those that are held privately. The owner and publisher of the New York Times are The New York Times Company, and the Chairman is Arthur Gregg “A.G.” Sulzberger, succeeding his father Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr. He is the sixth member of the Ochs/Sulzberger family to serve as publisher since Adolph Ochs purchased the newspaper in 1896.

Mark Thompson became president and chief executive officer of The New York Times Company in 2012, and the current board of directors can be found at this link.

According to Forbes, during the financial crisis of 2009, Mexican telecom mogul Carlos Slim Helú loaned The New York Times Company $250 million. The loan was paid back in 2011, and as of 2017, Slim sold $10 million worth of shares in The New York Times. According to a Bloomberg article, “President Trump accused Slim of using his ownership stake in the Times to influence the paper’s negative coverage of him. The Times and a representative for Slim deny this claim.” Advertising and subscription fees generate revenue.

Analysis / Bias

The News York Times’ coverage includes News (World News, National News, Business News), Opinion Pieces, Editorials, Arts, Movies, Theater, Travel, NYC Guide, Food, Home & Garden, and  Fashion & Style.

A Politico article states Donald Trump has frequently criticized The New York Times on his Twitter account. Trump labels the NYT as “fake news,” “naive,” “dumb,” and “the failing New York Times.” However, CNBC reports the company has shown substantial growth by adding 157,000 new digital subscriptions in the last quarter of 2017 and continues to grow.

The NYT looks at the issues from a progressive perspective and is regarded as “liberal.” According to a Pew Research Centers’ media polarization report, “the ideological Placement of Each Source’s Audience” places the audience for the New York Times as “consistently liberal.” Further, since 1960 The New York Times has only endorsed Democratic Presidential Candidates. Additionally, a Reuters institute survey found that 44% of respondents trust their news coverage and 33% do not, ranking them #6 in trust of the major USA news providers.

In review, the NYT utilizes emotionally loaded language in their headlines such as “Trump Again Falsely Blames Democrats for His Separation Tactic” and “A Financier’s profit-minded Mission to Open a Channel Between Kushner and North Korea,” however, they use credible sources such as law.cornell.edu, Financial Times, and The Washington Post. Story selection is typically balanced; however, wording tends to lean left in most cases. Editorials on the NYT almost always favor the left and sometimes are inaccurate; see failed fact checks below. The New York Times still qualifies for High Factual status due to the incredible amount of stories they publish, but the left-leaning bias has increased from the previous update.

Failed Fact Checks

A factual search shows the New York Times has made false claims in reporting but always makes corrections to those stories as soon as new information is available. Further, failed fact checks occurred on Op-Ed pages and not straight news reporting.

• “We have a host of issues associated with high B.M.I.s. But correlation doesn’t prove causation, and there’s a significant body of research showing that weight stigma and weight cycling can explain most if not all of the associations we see between higher weights and poor health outcomes.” – MOSTLY FALSE
• A political map circulated by Sarah Palin’s PAC incited Rep. Gabby Giffords’ shooting – FALSE
• “How Scientists Got Climate Change So Wrong” – Low Scientific Credibility

Overall, we rate the New York Times Left-Center biased based on wording and story selection that moderately favors the left. They are considered one of the most reliable sources for news information due to proper sourcing and well-respected journalists/editors. The failed fact checks were on Op-Eds and not straight news reporting. (5/18/2016) Update (M. Huitsing 04/19/2022)

Last Updated on June 29, 2023 by Media Bias Fact Check

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Left vs. Right Bias: How we rate the bias of media sources